"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh ... Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh, ... therefore I will lift up my voice to thee ... my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen." (2 Nephi 4: 34-35)

Sunday, February 8, 2015

1/20/15

Hey,

The first week at the MTC has been so great! There is no down time here. It’s always work, work, work - which is so awesome. The first day I got here so much happened, the same with the second day. It was a little overwhelming but I have settled in to the schedule and I'm learning so much. My district is great. It’s kinda crazy. My companions name is Elder Nelson.. He is hard working and super obedient. He keeps me line and makes sure that I’m working hard! We made a goal as a companionship to strive to be 100% obedient to everything we are told. So far I think we've done pretty well but its only day 7 so hopefully we can keep it up.

So every day at the MTC we manage to study for about 10 hours. 6-7 of those hours are spent with a teacher. Our teacher is Brother Machado, He is such a great guy and an amazing teacher. What I love most about being in the MTC is that everybody loves everyone else. We are all trying to become better people so that we can go and serve the people of Brazil. I feel Brother Machado's love for me and all the people in my district. The language study is coming along but is difficult. The second day that we were here we had to teach a lesson to an "investigator" in Portuguese. The task seemed a little daunting but it was an awesome experience. Having absolutely no knowledge forced me to rely on the spirit and I could feel it strongly. We teach our "investigator", Viviane, almost every day. We will be giving her our 4th lesson tomorrow and our teacher challenged us to do it without any notes. All my companion and I will have is 6 days of Portuguese, the book of Mormon, the Bible, and the spirit. It’s gonna be AWESOME! 2 of the 10 hours we spend studying every day is spent in personal and companion study. I have already grown to love reading and studying the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel so much. There is so much knowledge within those pages. I love them so much. oh we also have to memorize a bunch of things in Portuguese. At the end of the day my brain feel fried from reading and studying so much. But we also have a lot of fun! The people in my district are so hilarious. They keep things interesting!

I love all of you and I just want to share my favorite scripture with you guys. If you read in 2 Nephi 4:20 to the end Nephi talks about trusting in God and about how having Christ as the rock of our salvation gives him the hope to know he can do all things. The more I study and read in the scriptures the more powerful and confident I feel in my faith. I have no doubt that I can do anything as long as it is in line with the will of God. Faith should always lead us to action and that action will build even stronger faith. If you think you may lack faith in Jesus don't doubt yourself instead read more diligently through the book of Mormon and pray to god for an increase in faith. I think the greatest way for us to strengthen our faith is through using Christ atonement. it gives us the ability to be forgiven but also the ability to be enabled through his grace. I love this Gospel and I know that it is true. If you wish to develop stronger faith, read the blessing promised in the scriptures to those that are faithful and then test it. If you do as God commands then he is bound by his word to bless you. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Rice